Z

1521

ZANGAKI BROTHERS

(active 1870s–1900s)
The Zangaki brothers produced some of the fi nest im-
ages of late Victorian Egypt, yet so little is known about
them. They were probably Greek Cypriots, although it
has been suggested they may have come from Crete.
Nothing is known of them before their fi rst photographs
were published in Egypt in the late 1870s, and even the
names of the brothers themselves is unknown. It has
been suggested their initials were ‘C’ and ‘G,’ and in-
deed early 20th century photographic postcards bearing
the name ‘C Zangaki’ have been located.
Their photographs, however, were simply identifi ed
as ‘Zangaki,’ the letter ‘Z’ being frequently mistaken
for a stylised ‘L’ in several books, resulting in their
work being incorrectly ascribed to ‘Langaki.’ Indeed,
until relatively recently, there was assumed to be one
photographer with the name of ‘A Zangaki’ until the
discovery of a signboard bearing the legend ‘Adelphoi
Zangaki’ confi rmed that the images were the work of
brothers.
While their Greek—Cypriot or Cretan—roots are con-
fi rmed, the horse-drawn darkroom van with which they
toured the length of the Nile bore the legend ‘Zangaki
Brothers,’ and to further confuse matters, the majority of
their images are titled (in the negatives) in French.
Amongst many fi ne images are photographs taken
after the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, and some
eloquent commentaries on the popularity of the Grand
Tour of Egypt in the 1880s.
John Hannavy

ZEISS, CARL (1816–1888)
The name of Carl Zeiss is synonymous with quality
photographic optics, and has been for well more than a
century and a half. Throughout the twentieth century,

cameras fi tted with Zeiss optics were used by the major

fi gures in photography. But during Carl Zeiss’s lifetime,

the company made its name through the design and

manufacture of the highest quality microscopes.

However, it is to Zeiss and his associates that we

owe the emergence of the science of optical design and

manufacture—a science which had a direct and enduring

impact on the development of photographic lenses.

Carl Zeiss himself was born in Weimar on 11 Sep-

tember 1816, and apprenticed to Dr Friedrich Körner,

a microscope and scientifi c instrument maker, before

opening his own workshop in 1846, repairing optical

and scientifi c equipment. After Körner’s death in 1847,

Zeiss took over some of his former employer’s business

interests, developing the fi rst ‘compound microscope’

in that same year. It is recorded that in his fi rst year of

operation, he sold twenty-three microscopes! Twenty

years later he sold his one thousandth, and a further

twenty years later, 1886, saw the ten thousandth mi-

croscope sold!

1866 was a key year for Zeiss and marked the begin-

ning of his working relationship with Dr. Ernst Abbe,

then a physics lecturer at the University of Jena. With

Abbe, Zeiss would become a major player in lens manu-

facture, and the Zeiss Optical Works, established in that

same year, soon had Abbe as its Director of Research.

The marriage of Zeiss’s manufacturing experience, and

Abbe’s scientifi c understanding proved pivotal. Be-

tween them, the two men would develop the design and

manufacture of high quality lenses into a precise science

where, as Abbe noted, lens design was based on

‘a precise study of the materials used, [and] the designs

concerned are specifi ed by computation to the last de-

tail—every curvature, every thickness, every aperture of a

lens—so that any trial and error approach is excluded.’

Within six years the company had developed a signifi cant

number of new microscope lenses, all based on Abbe’s